Preview By: Roger Taylor
Developer:	Mobius Entertainment
Publisher:	3DO
Genre:	Baseball
Est. Release:	June 11th, 2001
Posted:	4-23-01

The High Heat Baseball series has received mixed reviews over the years. The series has excited baseball fans with lots of realistic touches. But at the same time it has turned many gamers off with sub-par graphics and occasionally sloppy gameplay. Well, love it or hate it, the High Heat Baseball series is headed to GBA and I, for one, am glad as hell.

The game features all the standards for modern baseball games: full 2001 teams, rosters and stadiums and five different modes of play, including exhibition, full season, batting practice and homerun derby. There is no multiplayer.

Maybe it just hasn’t sunken into my thick skull when it comes to realizing how great GBA games are going to look, but High Heat Baseball 2002 looks fantastic to me. The graphics are on par with later Super Nintendo sports games, which may not be all that great, but still seems impressive on a handheld after twelve years of original Game Boy use.

As the first baseball title for the GBA, High Heat Baseball will almost certainly be a sales monster. But the question still remains: is the gameplay going to be any good? Since a playable version of the game is not available at the time of the writing of this preview, we still don’t know. But we do know that the game has all the basics down pat, has above average graphics, and will be available at launch on June 11^th. Hopefully we’ll see a playable version at E3.